Sometime in the 1960’s, a renowned, well trained Military officer, as a result of the level of cruelty meted out on some Nigerian citizens of Igbo extraction who were then based in the North, protested against the unprovoked mass killing of these Nigerian citizens at that time.

These targeted killing of Igbo people and the calculated destruction of their businesses in the North, was one of the major reasons, General Odimegwu Ojukwu out of frustration, called for the secession of Biafrans, who were being killed in their numbers in the North, from the Nigerian State.

This secession which was done as a way to protest against, how so much cruelty was meted out on the people of the South East extraction who were then based in the North, led to the declaration of the supposed Independent State of Biafra by General Odimegwu Ojukwu.

As was expected, the Nigerian government was not ever going to fold its arms to watch the section of the nation that laid the golden egg, taken away from them without resistance from the Nigerian State.

This led to a war which lasted for a period of three years.

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These three years was one of the worst of times for the people of the Southeast as the Nigerian State with their allies, unleashed unquantifiable terror on the people of Biafra.

At a point in the conflict, the strategy of cutting off food supply to the Biafran’s was a cruel tool of war which was deployed.

This led to an escalation of death of the Biafran people in unimaginable numbers, as a result of hunger and malnourishment.

During the period of this conflict, General Ojukwu was said to have met with General Gowon who was leading the Nigerian State at the time at the instance of Lt. Colonel Ankrah, the then Military Dictator of Ghana.

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From extensive studies, we are reliably informed that one of the many resolutions reached at Aburi was to return Nigeria back to regional system of government.

These regional governments would then contribute resources to the center, where the federal government would be run.

All these were reneged on by the Nigerian government despite the “no victor, no vanquished declaration” at the end of the war.

When President Muhammadu Buhari ousted Former President Goodluck Jonathan from office through the ballot, the uninformed citizens among us who did not have a sense of history, had very high hopes of how General Buhari was going to turn around the fortunes of the nation and position the Nigerian State, on a path of sustained growth and unimaginable development.

These naïve members of the Nigerian population never anticipated what they later encountered during the eight-year tenure of the Katsina born, irredeemably tribalistic then ruler of the Nigerian State.

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This assumption of him coming to power to offer so much to the Nigerian State, was true just until he publicly made the 95% against the 5% analogy.

Then it dawned on all that we had gotten ourselves into a very rough ride with an ethnic jingoist at the helm of affairs of the nation.

Never did it occur to anyone of us as members of the 5% (South East) population analogy, that coupled with the violence which we were to expect from the APC led government in the coming days, that some of our brothers who are based overseas would put us through a fierier hell fire.

This they did by staying in their safe havens overseas to cheer on the madness going on in Igbo land.

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The madness is what has consistently burnt down the Southeast nonstop till date, Chief Priest the celebrity influencer and employer of labour would tell you more about this.

In the quest of these our brothers namely Barr. Ralph Uwazuruike and Mazi Nnamdi Kanu to achieve the secession from the Nigerian State many years after the Biafra war.

These supposed agitations led by these agitators, have inadvertently led to the wanton loss of lives and destruction of property, of the same people they claim to be fighting for their liberation.

Only an ignorant or insincere person would deny the fact that we lived daily in fear as South Easterners, under the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari, as we were almost run over by terrorists, who kept on expanding their territories of conquest.

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The Miyetti Allah group under the last government became very vocal, to the point that they were issuing threats to anyone who dared to call them to order, for destroying people’s farmlands and households.

The President Mohammed Buhari APC Presidency era was one our darkest era in recent times as a region because this was a time that nepotism, cronyism and their likes were elevated to an all-time high.

In a bid to stand up for themselves, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu led Indigenous People of Biafra decided that they had to fight for the liberation and defence of the South Eastern people.

The IPOB activities has been hugely funded by Igbos who are based all over the world. The IPOB strategy was simple, sensitize the South Easterners with truths and in some cases, smartly manipulated narratives about the injustices done against the Igbos by the Nigerian State, which would in turn, make the Southeastern people sympathetic to their course.

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The IPOB activities in the Southeast took a really violent turn after the members of the Nigerian Military invaded Mazi Nnamdi Kanu’s family compound in Umuahia, which subsequently led to the death of his parents.

Ever since then, there has been a fierce campaign against security forces in the South East with a clear mandate from IPOB to chase these men out of Igbo land.

While that narrative was being pushed all over the media space, Police Stations, Prisons and vehicles with Federal government plate numbers were being attacked all over Igbo land simultaneously.

This was to be followed by the unlawful rendition of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu from Kenya to Nigeria. The centre, they say, has refused to remain the same for the South East after this arrest.

The exact people who are responsible for perpetrating these criminal acts would be a conversation to be held another day.

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More so, we must also not shy away from the fact that even if the IPOB struggle was hijacked, the foundation for such violence against the Igbo people, as we have it now, cannot be well diagnosed without mentioning the role of IPOB in initiating most of these schemes that were now amplified by these criminals.

While Mazi Nnamdi Kanu is being held unjustly in detention, even after being proclaimed not guilty by the Nigerian courts, these criminals that now use the IPOB toned struggle to perpetuate all sorts of crime, have become more sophisticated and vicious, such that they seem to now thrive on feasting on the raw blood of South Easterners. With their recent terror, unleashed on Soldiers at Obikabia junction, Obingwa Abia State.

While we hold the view as free citizens, that it is alright to demand accountability from our leaders for the political offices they occupy, it is wrong to burn and kill the same people (Igbos) who are victims of the said failed system as it is with the Nigerian State.

Eastern Security Network was supposedly formed by IPOB to help secure the South East from terrorist invaders and armed herders.   

It is unfortunate that members of this same organization are known to make very loud merry when Soldiers are killed in the most gruesome manner in the Southeast.

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This here, beats the imagination of anyone that cares to critically look at the optics therein.

There are some South Easterners who are of the strong opinion that the violence being experienced in Eastern Nigeria is being sponsored by the Nigerian State, to ensure that the South East knows no peace and as such, remains underdeveloped.

I have always asked, did the same Federal government prevent the South Eastern regional block, from rallying round themselves to protect the region from being overrun by criminals?

While we cannot shy away from the injustice faced in the Nigerian State as Igbos, must we sit idly and cheer criminals who are disguising as freedom fighters on, as they destroy our homeland?

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Remember that after the war, every Igbo man was handed a 20 Pounds Sterling bill as compensation for the destruction of the war irrespective of the scope of their wealth before the war.

So, what sense does it make to see that we are gradually destroying all that we have been able to build since after the war, because of our inability to sit down and have deep conversations devoid of emotions.

 There is a sense in which we must avoid at all cost, destroying the South East by ourselves.

Knowing fully well that sit at home, encouraging criminals to attack security formations in the South East, cheering on anarchy in the region cannot in any way make the South East prosperous.

If we must develop as a region, we must have a well stated regional agenda which encompasses the full implementation of law and order and well-coordinated regional development agenda across all critical sectors of the economy.

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 Henceforth we must stand up to confront our brothers and Sisters who are based overseas, who are ignorantly fanning the flames of destruction in Igbo land from their overseas abode.

Only a peaceful South Eastern region with a conscious citizenry that asks its leaders tough questions, that can guarantee a developed and prosperous South Eastern region and not sit at home or killing of Soldiers on peace keeping duties.

There must be deliberate efforts to have a bulging middle-class population in the region, as opposed to the exponentially rising lower class population, just as we have in today’s Nigeria.

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Our Governors must start having conversations hinged on regional agenda around these areas of interest; security, power generation and distribution, road and rail transport infrastructure, commerce, establishment of manufacturing hubs, medical care and agriculture.

We must admit that we cannot develop the Southeast by supporting non-State actors to take the reins of power and declare terror on the masses inadvertently.

We must be careful with what we support as a region, so that we do not end up being accessories to the destruction of our homeland.

What happened in Aba on the 31^st of May was all shades of wrong and criminality taken too far. We must never sit idly and watch these charlatans turn the Southeast to a desolate place where commerce and industry finds it difficult to thrive.

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The time to look closely at what our Governors are doing with the monthly allocation they get on our behalf as a people is now.

Beyond the kite of building roads, classrooms and their likes that is always flown by politicians, we must ask about what they are doing in the fields of healthcare, agriculture, commerce, sports, transportation etc.

Make no mistakes about this, once the people of the Southeast stand up to hold the political class accountable, the rate at which the Southeast would develop would amaze the devil itself.